The New Golden Age

A few years ago, we dubbed our era the Golden Age of cigar smoking.
At the time, great new cigars were hitting the market and some
older brands were updating their blends and dramatically improving
quality. We were wrong.

Now, we have to say that today is the Golden
Age for lovers of fine, premium hand-rolled cigars. You could argue,
we guess, that the golden age is just continuing, and you would be
right about that too. But today’s cigars are even better than the ones
that we commented about a few years ago, and they just seem to be
getting better all the time.
Why do we say that? We just got back from Las Vegas, this year’s host
to the cigar industry’s biggest trade show, now called the
International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, or IPCPR.

Attendance was up from last year, and there was the usual complement
of big, well-designed booths. When people weren’t gambling or
sightseeing or recovering from the previous night’s parties, the show
floor was busy with retailers from the United States, and all over the
world. It was astonishing how many good cigars were available,
including ones from companies that we never would have expected.
Several notable trends were evident. A lot of manufacturers are
creating or putting new emphasis on the lancero size, about 38 to 40
ring gauge and seven inches long. That’s a cigar that gives a lot of
prominence to the wrapper leaf, and since it’s thinner, it smokes more
quickly than, say, a double corona. We also observed that the shift
toward really strong, full-bodied smokes is moderating.

The buzzword
was flavor, but not at the expense of a harmonious balance.
We smoked some cigars that are going to be on retailers’ shelves this
fall. We’re not going to mention any names yet, but some cigars from
some very big and traditional manufacturers will pleasantly surprise
you. We advise you to throw out your preconceptions about some
venerable brands and to try some of these new products this fall.
Why is the improvement continuing to happen?

First, cigarmakers are
not sitting on their laurels. They are continuing to experiment with
wrappers and filler tobaccos from all regions of the world, and
shedding some of their old, dare we say outdated, notions about what
makes up a great blend. We even had one cigar that you won’t be
smoking until the end of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba; the
cigarmaker acquired some Cuban wrapper leaf and put it on his existing
blend. It was fabulous. That kind of creativity bodes well for all
cigar smokers.

Second, and maybe more importantly, the big cigar
tobacco growers are producing bigger and bigger quantities of some of
the world’s best wrapper leaf outside Cuba’s Vuelta Abajo. The leaves
are dark, oily and flavorful, and they are opening the door on great
new blends. As with cigarmakers, there is a greater attitude of
experimentation among growers than ever before.
Sure, storm clouds still remain on the horizon. New taxes. Tighter
smoking laws. A souring economy. But retailers are responding by
building new lounges where their customers can legally smoke, and they
are becoming much more aggressive with creative promotions, finding
new ways to get customers into their stores. And that’s where you can
decide for yourself whether this is truly a new Golden Age for cigars.